page_title: Spanish imperial eagle
section_title: Conservation
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish imperial eagle / Conservation
caption_attribution_description: English: Aquila adalberti, a flying juvenile
context_page_description: The Iberian Imperial Eagle, also known as the Spanish imperial eagle, Spanish eagle, or Adalbert's eagle, is a threatened species of eagle native to the Iberian Peninsula. The binomial commemorates Prince Adalbert of Bavaria.
  Formerly, the Iberian imperial eagle was considered to be a subspecies of the eastern imperial eagle, but is now widely recognised as a separate species due to differences in morphology, ecology, and molecular characteristics.
context_section_description: The species is classified as Vulnerable by IUCN. Threats include loss of habitat, human encroachment, collisions with pylons (at some point in the early 1980s, powerlines were responsible for 80% of deaths among birds in their first year of life) and illegal poisoning. There has also been a decline in the species' main prey: rabbits have been kept at bay or even declined in some of the areas where the eagle is or could be present as a result of myxomatosis and, most recently, rabbit haemorrhagic disease.
  By the 1960s it had become a critically endangered species, with only 30 pairs remaining, all located in Spain. Following conservation efforts, recovery began in the 1980s at a rate of five new breeding pairs per year up to 1994. Imperial eagles were nearly wiped out. In 2011, the species's global population had increased to 324 pairs, with 318 pairs in Spain. The species recolonised Portugal in 2003, after an absence of breeding activity for over 20 years, and has been slowly increasing since, with six breeding pairs located in 2011 and nine located in 2012. The population in Spain showed an average annual increase of c. 7% between 1990 and 2011. These positive trends are largely attributed to mitigation measures to reduce mortality associated with powerlines, supplementary feeding, reparation of nests, reintroductions and decreases in the disturbance of breeding birds, although some of the observed increases may be due to more thorough searches within its range.
caption: Juvenile Spanish imperial eagle in flight
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